Alina

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The Estonian composer Arvo Pärt's latest ECM release contains only two pieces, "Für Alina" and "Spiegel im Spiegel", in two and three versions, respectively. They were recorded four years ago, and the reason for the delay in releasing them is not explained in the liner notes. But one thing is sure: It is certainly not a case of having no new Pärt product to peddle and wheeling out old outtakes to keep the punters happy. "Für Alina" is one of the seven works performed in Tallinn in 1976, when the composer broke his famed silence after several years of musical crisis, while "Spiegel im Spiegel" was written two years later. Both are utterly sublime. Pärt's compositional technique exploits the silences between notes, offering these spaces as places for the listener to contemplate their slow disappearance and be drawn inside the music itself. He once commented that he had found his new way of composing by asking a street sweeper he met in his hometown how one was supposed to write music; the man answered, "I think one has to love every note, every single tone". Alina is proof that he took the man at his word. "Spiegel im Spiegel" is presented in versions for violin or cello and piano, while "Für Alina"'s two versions are actually selected phrases from pianist Alexander Malter's several-hour long improvisation on the piece made by Pärt himself. While his music has now become a standard part of the late 20th-century repertoire, appearing on endless recordings from around the world, it is still to ECM's Pärt CDs that one should turn to experience the true essence of his music. Alina is both a very good place to start for the uninitiated and an essential gem for those already enamoured of Arvo Pärt's unique sound.